Articles

Free Agent: Dragon Nest

GameSpy's Free Agent is your advance recon into the world of free-to-play games. His mission: jump into a free game every week and put in some gaming hours to see how much fun can be had without spending a cent, then try out some paid items to see if they're worth the asking price. This week he parties up and ventures into the instanced dungeons of free-to-play MMORPG Dragon Nest.

What is it? A cutesy Korean MMO filled with monsters so adorable, you'd probably rather hug them than plow through them.

What makes it different? A non-targeting system gives this fantasy RPG a hint of shooter.

What do you get for free? The entire leveling experience is available to the non-paying players, right up to the level cap of 50.

"Why does my character look about seven years old?" That's my first puzzled thought upon selecting a bubblegun-toting Tinkerer, one of the five classes available in the snowy field that serves as a character creation screen in F2P Korean MMO Dragon Nest. The customization options aren't great -- a total of four hair colors to choose from, and my character's gender is determined by its class. Sorry, Legolas; no male archers exist in this world.

That doesn't explain why environments look slightly... off.

My Tinkerer's prepubescent appearance -- young even by the usual chibi standards -- was soon explained by her time-traveling backstory, which saw her arriving in Altera in an age-reversing contraption. That doesn't explain why the environments look slightly... off. Visually, Dragon Nest employs an odd kind of tilt-shift effect, as befitting its super-cute aesthetic, but more often than not the blurred background looked more outdated than stylish, bringing to mind an era of unflatteringly blurred graphics on old CRT monitors.

My Tinkerer's first quest -- retrieving one of her age-changing gizmos from a rowdy band of goblins that were punting it about like a football -- was endearingly cute in a scripted WoW-esque sort of way. Unfortunately, this didn't set the tone for quests to follow, which, while amusingly written and well-translated, tended to be stiffly animated and dull to complete.

First quest: get your Tinkerer to elementary school on time.

Quests are amusingly written and well-translated, but tend to be stiffly animated and dull to complete.

Those quests are the primary way of leveling, by the way, but don't expect these to be the kind you'd find in other MMOs like Rift -- you know, objectives that quietly encourage exploration of a near-unending world. For one thing, Altera isn't much of a "world" at all. Portals connect towns to "fields," from where you'll be able to access thoroughly linear sequences involving the slaying of waves of monsters. The objectives to your quests are laid out in plain sight, and if there's any challenge to be found in Dragon Nest's gameplay, it's only in being able to repeat these sequences on increased levels of difficulty.

The fields and sequences are also instances, which means you'll never run into other players randomly while trekking across Altera. You can only play these instances alone, or with a party. Thankfully, Dragon Nest allows for the auto-joining of existing parties, and while it may seem a bit rude to drop in on strangers' parties and ask if they're up for venturing into a field with you, I found the community to be pleasant and polite. No trolls lurking in the chat channels here.

That bubble gun has... pop.

Instances mean you'll never run into other players randomly.

In spite of the instancing, it didn't take me long to grasp that Dragon Nest still manages to be a very social game, more about player conversations and cute outfits than anything that might interest a hardcore, min-maxing end-gamer. That's perhaps why the gameplay was generally unchanging and unchallenging; more fun was to be found in cracking jokes in party chat.

Insert Coin

The cash currency is NX, usable in all Nexon games and purchasable via the Steam Wallet. The cash-to-currency ratio is even at all tiers; the smallest denomination is $5, which buys you 5,000 NX, with the highest being $100 for 100,000 NX. I never once felt that I was being forced into paying to win, and even the link to the in-game shop, The Dragon Vault, is an unobtrusive button in the lower-right corner of the screen that actually took me a while to locate.

How much did we spend? $10

What did it get us? A couple of pieces of gear, as well as a stat-boosting pet, all of which had a lifespan of 30 days.

Was it worth it? The boosts to a low-leveled player were, shall we say, on the money. Unfortunately, the price of things tends to scale with your level and devotion to the game.

Can you buy your way to victory? Spending is absolutely not necessary, though expect to feel a little throttled at higher levels.

Like most free-to-play MMOs, there's a mix of usable and wearable items up for grabs. What I wanted most was some added inventory space, as frolicking in fields tended to fill my slots far too quickly. However, 2,900 NX seemed rather a lot to ask for a minimal five-slot upgrade, and the only other option was a 30-slot upgrade that I certainly couldn't justify paying $13.90 for so early in my Dragon Nest career.

If you want to look good in Dragon Nest, be ready to spend.

Most of the armor in the "Wearable" category is catered to more established players.

Most of the armor in the "Wearable" category also catered to more established players, with the majority of items requiring a minimum level of 30. However, there are a handful of options for low-leveled players, and since I was spending the majority of my time shooting bubbles at monsters in the fields, this is where I chose to lay down my money. For the equivalent total of $4.10, I bought a new tunic, a pair of pants, and some boots.

With my leftover NX, I clicked on the third tab, which is amusingly devoted purely to pets. Excitingly, pets in Dragon Nest offer combat stats, automatic loot collection, and, of course, cuteness. I bought a cat, and while its idle meows were completely worth the 3,900 NX (down from the usual price of 5,600 NX), I noticed the benefits of its stat boost and item-collecting skills, too.

If you get sucked into Dragon Nest, you'll be here quite a bit.

I was generally fine with paying what I did for my cash shop items.

For all of my purchases, I chose a duration of 30 days, but 90 day and permanent options are also available. I was generally fine with paying what I did for my cash shop items, figuring I wouldn't play Dragon Nest any longer than a month anyway. However, if you're taken in by its admittedly abundant charm, you'll probably end up paying a lot more. For instance, a level 30+ coat costs 2,200 NX for 30 days' rental, versus 5,700 for a permanent wardrobe addition.

Free or Flee?

From the beginning, you're able to experience all that Dragon Nest can offer. However, if you find yourself playing much beyond level 20 or so, you'll find things starting to get pricey, as Dragon Nest tends to tax its more dedicated players with higher price-tags on cash shop goods. It makes sense, really; the more highly invested players may be more tempted to invest financially, too. And the rest of us? We can totally get away with a few rounds in the fields as an entertaining, cruisey, cost-free way to spend a weekend.

Instances can be a blast, but I don't know how long I would last in a purely instanced world. No exploring makes Dragon Nest a tough sell for me, no matter how cute it is. What about you?